Muslim girl in UP wins 5 medals in Sanskrit

Ghazala lives with her family in a one-room house, wakes up at 5 a.m. to offer 'namaaz', does all household chores and studies Sanskrit for almost seven hours a day

Amid the ongoing controversy over 'hijab' in Karnataka, a Muslim girl, a student of postgraduate at Lucknow University, has been awarded the best student prize in the Sanskrit language and has bagged five medals in different categories.

According to the Varsity officials, Ghazala's name for the best student prize had been announced at the Convocation in November last year but owing to the Covid 19 only a few students could be given the medals.

''Ghazala was given the medals at a function held at the faculty level at the Varsity on Thursday,'' said an official of the varsity.

Ghazala, whose father had died a few years back from cancer, was the only child among two brothers and two sisters, who managed to continue her education after the death of their father.

An elated Ghazala credited her mother, two brothers and her sister for the award. ''I could not have been able to continue my studies without their help....my two brothers worked as mechanics while my sister worked at a shop...they all supported me...my mother too ensured that I continued my studies,;; she said.

She said that she developed an interest in the Sanskrit language while she was in her fifth standard. ''I started to like Sanskrit as I found it to be the most musical language....it is the mother of all languages,'' she said.

Her teachers at Lucknow University said that Ghazala knew four languages besides Sanskrit, including Hindi, English, Urdu and Arabic.

Ghazala said that she wanted to pursue PhD in Vedic Literature and be a professor of Sanskrit.

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